Christmas

Christmas marks one of the rare occasions when the old woman permits washing, placing the holiday within a severe regimen organized around avoiding illness rather than ordinary cleanliness.

Place in the Old Woman’s Regimen

She claims that a person should wash no more than twice a year: at Christmas and Easter. Even on those occasions, washing should be very light and done without undressing. Christmas therefore serves as a fixed point in her sparse schedule of washing, alongside the other annual holiday she names.

Washing and Foot Care

The rule does not mean that she avoids all contact with hot water. She uses it to relieve the corns, bunions, and ingrown toenails on her gnarled feet, soaking them once or twice a week. The contrast distinguishes the rare, limited washing associated with Christmas from the more frequent care she gives to specific foot ailments.